Forced to go on foot after their vehicle explodes, Al questions Ed for the first time about the direction of their mission, prompting a heated brawl. With the half-snake, half-woman Marta as their guide, Ed and Al arrive at the ruins of Ishbal. Their shock at the devastation is magnified as Marta divulges the real cause of the Ishbalan war, and the dark series of events that led to her transformation into a chimera. Once again, Ed and Al must question everything they believed. Meanwhile, someone high up the military ladder has ordered an investigation on Colonel Mustang.